Saturday, October 03, 2015

Two weeks
ago Saturday on September 19 my Dad who recently was having mild vertigo
had a head injury after he slipped in the bathroom and hit his head on
the sink.

(I now realize this is kinda similar to what happened to Doc Brown before he came up with the idea for the Flux Capacitor).

Anyways, after knocking and banging the bathroom door open after few
attempts, I almost pulled my back as I struggled to lift my unconscious
Dad. I couldn't do it.

Never did I feel so disappointed about my
physical limitations and especially of my skinny built. And while I was
helpless, the ambulance service was incompetent.

People always
joke that we can get pizza delivered here under 30 mins but emergency
services will not respond or arrive in time when needed the most and
this time I got to witness that.

HUGE thanks to my cousin Roshan
Baliga who arrived quickly at the scene and helped me to take my Dad to
the hospital, also thanks to Rajesh Baliga, their office staff Suresh
and my Uncle Prabhakar Bhat who all arrived at the house and helped with
the process.

Though I am grateful to all the doctors, nurses and
staff at the KMC Hospital in Jyothi who did their part in my Dad's
recovery, I gotta say overall the hospital itself is a dump especially
when compared to the some of the other hospitals in town who are
charging similar prices or even lower.

I know KMC is a reputable
hospital and I've friends & relatives who have studied in the KMC
colleges and later on worked at these hospitals. Maybe it's great for
doctors, but the KMC hospital at least the one in Jyothi area is pretty
sub-par for patients and their families. Yet people arrive in droves to
this hospital, guess it has to do something with its brand name being
embedded in public consciousness. And being familiar with some of the
known doctors there leads most of us to go to that hospital as the
default option.

15 years ago in September 2000 after battling
with pneumonia for 3 months, my mother passed away in the same hospital.
So maybe I'm little biased, but my state of being disgruntled is pretty
much based only on my current experience.

Right from their lousy
parking system to the way the unprofessional emergency respond team
were struggling to get my Dad out from the car to the emergency room, my
list of complaints including about the lousy rooms and bathroom is
endless.

He was admitted to ICU on day 1 and then transferred to
the general ward room the following day. Doctors sometimes were not
around when I wanted to talk to them despite waiting during the hours
when they were scheduled to arrive. The doctors made cameo appearances
shorter in duration than what Stan Lee did in Marvel movies.

On
the plus side, after the initial MRI scan they said there is no need for
surgery despite there being some internal bleeding and that he will be
on injections and medication while being kept under observation. He had a
huge bump on the left side of his forehead, couple of stitches near his
right eye lid and his right eye was bloody red due to the impact. He
also bit the side of his tongue during the fall and hence suffered some
bleeding in the mouth.

My Dad struggled with his memories and
recognizing people in the initial couple of days, which was expected in
these scenarios.

One of the things I did remind my Dad was that I
was not married, else the next thing I know he might be asking me
'Where are the grand kids?'

The patient who was admitted on the
other side of our room was having a heart condition and was diabetic. He
was an old man always shouting and complaining in pain to his grown up
kids.

A day later he had to get his leg amputated, after the
surgery his agony and howls at night were more frequent. And he kept
telling his daughter that he wanted to smoke a beedi. Power of
addiction.

Every time I took a stroll across the hospital was a
depressing situation. Sometimes I would notice someone quietly sobbing
outside their room for their family member. I was there in the hospital
only for 5 days and it was plenty for me.

I was scheduled to
leave to US on October 1 and was going to book my flights last week but
had to cancel my trip for now. The plan was to attend the wedding of my
friends Sandip and Lydia on the east coast, visit few other cities and
then reach LA by Oct 20 for the Back to the Future 30th Anniversary
event - We're Going Back. Most people close to me know I have been
waiting for the October 2015 BTTF celebration since I was 16 years old
when I saw BTTF trilogy for the first time later in the 90s. Besides
some of my family and relatives, my Dad later on also told me that I
should continue with my trip.

My Dad is a yoga therapist by
profession and takes utmost care of his health and diet, he is 64 and
actually healthier than me. So this was the first time in about 20 years
he has been admitted to the hospital due to his mild vertigo striking
unexpectedly and had this accident.

Every time I shudder thinking
what would have happened if this accident took place while he was
riding his scooter or while I was traveling to US, no one would notice
him in the bathroom for days.

My Dad is feeling much better now
and after being discharged from the hospital he has been staying with my
uncle (his younger brother) and aunt. He will be there for few weeks.
He has a second brain scan scheduled for next week. Thanks to all our family
members, relatives, friends, and all my Dad's yoga students who reached
out to us offering their wishes and support.

This incident and
visit at the hospital made me realize that I need to always remain fit
and healthy. But as with many things this sense of realization is very
temporary for me, so I need to keep reminding myself of that.

Cause the following is bound to happen sooner. I will be like "Oh look, a new fast food joint".